BHOPAL: The Central Evaluation Committee on Wednesday put on hold the proposal for revision of collector guideline rates at over 340 locations in Bhopal following intervention of deputy chief minister Jagdish Deora.
The committee, which met in the office of registrar general to decide on the proposed revision of rates, gave its nod to hike guideline rates at about 3,500 other locations across the state.
The proposals for Sheopur and Sehore districts are on hold because of the model code of conduct for bypolls at Budhni and Vijaypur assembly constituencies.
Proposals for Bhopal were put on hold after Bhopal MP Alok Sharma met deputy CM Deora, who is also finance minister, and apprised him his disagreement with the manner in which the proposal was prepared without consulting all the peoples’ representatives of the district, including the MP, MLAs and mayor.
Later in the morning, a delegation of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) also met Deora and demanded that the proposals be put on hold and a three year lock-in period be declared for a cease in any hike in the collector guideline rates.
The CREDAI delegation had met Bhopal (West-Central) MLA Bhagwandas Sabnani on Tuesday evening to apprise him of their strong opposition to the proposed hike.
Sabnani was the only elected representative in the district committee, which prepared the proposal for hike in property rates and sent it to the Central Evaluation Committee for consideration.
A member of the Central Evaluation Committee told TOI on condition of anonymity that a letter was received by the committee from Bhopal MP Alok Sharma in which he requested that any decision on revision of collector guideline rates should only be taken in consultation with peoples’ representatives and other stakeholders.
“Since we are in no hurry, we asked the collector to hold meetings with peoples’ representatives of the district and other stakeholders and send the proposal again. Since then, the proposal for Bhopal has been on hold. Since, there was no major opposition from anywhere else, we went ahead to consider the proposals received from the other places and decided to approve a hike in prices at 3300-3500 locations across the state. On an average, the hike is limited to 0.9%,” said an official.
Hikes in collector guideline rates have only been approved at locations where the registry is taking place at double or triple the collector guideline rates, he added.
President of CREDAI, Bhopal chapter, Manoj Singh Meek, who led the delegation that met Deora, welcomed the deputy CM’s initiative to put on hold revision of collector guideline rates in Bhopal and said they received support from other public representatives, too, in their attempt to drive home the adverse impact of collector guideline rates hike on the realty business and people at large.
Talking to TOI, Meek said that they insisted with the deputy CM that they have relied on the policy to raise collector guideline rates for 15 years to optimise revenue from property transactions in the form of stamps used for registry, why don’t they reduce the rates and see the results. “There are two models. The model of reducing profit margin and increasing the volume of business is the model which the state government should now adopt and see the results. We also suggested that there should be a three-year lock-in period in terms of guideline property rates. He has put in abeyance the proposed hike, which is a good beginning,” he said.
